Ready for Launch

In case you haven't noticed, the PlayStation 3 finally launches in Europe this weekend.

GamesIndustry.biz took the opportunity to sit down with Sony's UK managing director Ray Maguire on the eve of the console launch to discuss the controversial price, the rocky road to retail, media perception of the Sony brand and the head start by rival consoles.

Part two of the interview, where Maguire discusses amongst other things, the recent US sales figures, will be published on Monday.

Ray Maguire:It's definitely a new direction for us. Many people are saying we're now joining the next-generation console era, but I believe we've stepped over the current next-gen to create the real next-generation.

For us to go from a machine that basically wasn't online other than the SOCOM-type of experience — to throw that flag further out than has been before, to go into a hi-def world, to be the only one to do true 1080p, to be a much wider entertainment device rather than just a gaming device and have all your media within one area — it's a much more encompassing entertainment medium than has been available in the past.

One of the things we're proud of is that Sony is a company about innovation. It's reasonable easy to walk down an aisle and choose a chip, a graphics card and a power supply and to put them together and present them as a product. What we as a company do, and is in our heart and soul, is to think that none of those components is good enough. We need to be looking at something that no-one else provides. We need to be looking at components that when put together create a device that is looking into the future rather than looking at 'the now'.

That's what we've done with just about every single component in the PS3. Whether it's the Cell chip, which is the best super computer brain that can handle lots of data, or the Blu-ray component which is the way to get 60GB of data into the marketplace, or the output that's required — full 1080 and HDMI connections — that's the way of the future.

All of those things are part of moving from the PlayStation 2 era to the PlayStation 3 and leaving behind all of the middle products that are in the market place right now, which clearly don't compare in terms of technical prowess.

Well the first thing that is important is that I want the price to be as low as possible, because the lower the price the more we sell — we're a software model.

If you take the product at the factory gates there are slight variations to price if you're putting out a single sku product, but it's very, very small. But then the differences start to accumulate. If you've got different shipping costs and import duties that makes variation in price. And that's just getting it into a country. Then you have a look at the economic and financial situation in each and every territory. That's where the differences start to vary massively.

If you take what's considered to be the most expensive and the least expensive — consider the US with its massive land and cheap people. Then you look at the UK — a little island where rent and rates are at an absolute premium, and the cost of people is a lot more. The cost of retail is vastly more in the UK than it is in the US and that's before you even stop to consider the US doesn't have VAT at RRP, they put a small amount on afterwards. Whereas, we get stung by 17.5 per cent. And pity the poor Irish and places like Sweden.

But we have to remember this is no different to selling a cup of Starbucks coffee or a McDonald's hamburger. This is the cost of living in the UK. It just becomes another barrier for us to get more product into the marketplace because the price needs to be set higher to get from our factory to the consumer.

No. We did consider GBP 429, but we wanted to get the best for the consumer.

Well, it's certainly not been smooth sailing. I'd have to say that every launch has its issues. Sometimes they're behind the scenes so you'll see the grace of the swan above the water and not the rapid movement of legs beneath.

Nowadays, with how the media works, not only does information fly around at the speed of light, so does mis-information. With blogs on the increase, people's thought processes are transferred from one place to another and picked up by people who might be lazy when it comes to finding out whether something is true or not. The old adage of never let the truth get in the way of a good story is probably more prevalent than it has been before.

You also have to remember that we're one of the most cynical nations on the planet and even if you're telling people the absolute truth they doubt whether that information is real or not. This is the world that we sit in and we have to accept it and make the best of it.We have to make sure that what we're doing is focusing on making the best product for the consumer at the best price and making sure that experience is second to none.

When you're the market leader — the biggest brand — you're the biggest target to hit. Of course we're going to be subject to that. Also, we set ourselves the highest expectations and we want to deliver the best. Innovation carries risk. And if you're not prepared to take risks I don't think you're really worthy of getting the crown at the end. That risk, and the issues brought up by taking those steps into a place that no-one else wants to go to, makes it rockier.

What we have to do now is make sure that people get a PlayStation 3 in their hands and they start to experience it. One of the things we've noticed is that people who don't understand it, after three hours they come away saying 'I get it, I now know why the wait has been worth it'. They can also see a future vision as well, because you can see it instantly once you get your hands on it. When you add on features such as Home, the network connectivity, remote play — the world just starts to unfold in front of you. Everything changes from that point onwards.

Yes. All the way along, we've not been a company to stand up and shout about what we're going to be doing somewhere in the future. We're a company that likes to say, 'Here it is. Have a look at it. If you like it, buy it. If not we'll try harder'. Because of that we've been silent for some time getting these products together. But I think it's been worth it to see the massive leap from where we were to where we're going. People appreciate that they can now see something tangible. Once you see something tangible then attitude's change.

To be honest we only look at our own business plan. Some people get very bent out of shape over market share. We've had a manufacturing process, we've had to get the product to market at the right time and right price. We have to look to do what is right for us as a company. I think this never-ending comparison between one and the other is really difficult because it's like comparing apples and oranges. No two machines are in any way the same.

Well one's a games machine, but the PlayStation 3 is an entertainment machine. We're into a hi-def existence, we're into the next part of the entertainment world. We're not hooked into a world which was technologically average two years ago. You can't compare the two. If you're comparing the two we would have had the same technology and we'd be at the same price and we're not. We're far advanced technologically, and if you look at the difference in cost price to the consumer, that is the ratio of how far along we are being in advance as a console compared to our competition.

Ray Maguire is Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment UK. Interview by Ellie Gibson.